Nyckelharpa

Nyckelharpa "1.0" - the little-known key fiddle. 

First of all: This article is about a musical instrument. It is little known and very old, but it is becoming more and more popular and being reinvented. WHAT is a nyckelharpa? It is so unknown that even a web encyclopedia search yields "unfortunately no search results". You will find what you are looking for on Wikipedia: "The nyckelharpa is a stringed instrument. Its strings are made to vibrate with the help of a short bow. The pitch of the melody string(s) is determined by pressing keys, the "keys". Aha. But it only becomes clear when you look at the nyckelharpa: the instrument is made of wood, almost a meter long, has sixteen strings and an almost confusing number of keys. 

Now how does it work? Similar to a violin, you play the strings with a bow. Of the usually sixteen strings, four can be played as melody strings, the other twelve sympathetic strings are a little lower and, like on the sitar, serve to amplify the sound. The key now practically replaces the finger: while you press down the string of a violin, on the nyckelharpa you push the wooden key towards the string and can thus play the corresponding note. Like a typewriter, the keys are laid out next to and one above the other in rows, usually three or four. Since there is a key for each note, the average nyckelharpa has 40 keys, but there are also models with more than 60 keys... 

The biography: The origin of the nyckelharpa lies in the Middle Ages. The first illustrations can be found in Sienna, northern Italy; also famous is the stone carving on a church in Gotland, Sweden. The instrument was even known in Germany in the 16th century and was described by Michael Praetorius in his "Syntagma Musicum" as a key fiddle. The nyckelharpa, however, was simpler than it is today. It had three strings and only one row of twelve keys. Over the centuries, this simple nyckelharpa - which is known by the way as "moraharpa" - has been constantly modified and further developed. In this context, it is interesting that the nyckelharpa disappeared in Europe after the 16th century, while in Sweden it was constantly being further developed and can today be considered THE Swedish instrument. The nyckelharpa experienced a quantum leap in the middle of the last century, when it was equipped with a chromatic system and three rows of keys and received the form we know today. 

Eric Sahlström, after whom today's music institute in Tobo, Sweden, is named, deserves credit for the nyckelharpa. By the way, the book by Jan Ling: Nyckelharpan, 1967 & Berlings, Lund, 1979, (ISBN 91-518-1272) is recommended as a detailed reference book on the history. Nyckelharpa 2.0 - the violin with the typewriter keyboard in transition In recent years, the nyckelharpa has experienced a steadily increasing rediscovery by musicians and changes by instrument makers. The musician, composer and instrument maker Holger Funke put it this way: "Every musician puts his own interpretation into a violin, but he does not change the instrument itself - but a nyckelharpa challenges the musician to change it. When playing, you bump into it hitherto unknown sounds, so it is obvious to build the instrument in such a way that more such sounds can be played!" 

Holger Funke, who is known as the German nyckelharpa specialist, then developed various models, some of them exotic, in cooperation with Swedish nyckelharpa builders. A nyckelharpa was built that has the historical, medieval body, but a modern, extensive keyboard. This makes it possible to play modern repertoire, but with a historical sound. A newly developed large bass nyckelharpa plays in the double bass position and is considered the world's largest nyckelharpa ever built. "Korg MS 20 and the music of Tangerine Dream were my musical beginnings in the 80s," says Holger Funke, who nowadays tends to be on the road with his ensemble Poeta Magica in the realms of world music. "Back then, the sound first had to be designed and created before you could play it. But then every note was unique, was newly nuanced, differentiated. I also wanted this sound possibility on the nyckelharpa". The result of this consideration is now the electric nyckelharpa: The sound is produced manually, with the bow, and varied by the player, but is picked up electrically and provided with effects - and you hear full sounds, mixed with the clattering of the keyboard... The nyckelharpa changes the musician. The musician changes the nyckelharpa. The altered nyckelharpa.... The journey is not over yet.